Tue, 24 Apr 2018 15:31:03 +0200WeeblyTue, 24 Apr 2018 13:09:46 GMThttp://www.migszol.com/blog/desperate-times-call-for-new-measuresEver since Migszol began in 2012, we have based our work on information from the ground, on the situation at the borders, and testimonies of people from different camps. This has always provided the basis and the legitimacy to our activism. But over the years things changed radically. Gradually the detention of practically all asylum seekers was implemented, while at the same time the space for civil society and independent media has become extremely narrow. In the current situation, we find that we, unfortunately, cannot function the way we used to. We have no way of being in touch with detained asylum seekers, and even if we did, we would risk becoming targets of state-sponsored hate campaigns, also we would risk their personal safety during the asylum procedure. In addition, during the post-2015 era of massive propaganda campaigns, many Hungarians don’t have any direct contact with foreigners. The images, impressions only come from the state media.In the incredibly Fidesz-controlled media environment, it is difficult to set any other agenda. Even opposition politicians and opposition media falls into the same rhetoric. Groups like Migszol simply do not have capacity for wide counter-propaganda campaigns. This blog post is not about Migszol quitting. It’s about sharing the reasons why we need to reconsider the ways in which we work in the future.

Post-election Hungary Most of those Hungarians who do not support the regime agree that after this victory of Fidesz, a different kind of work is needed in Hungary. Over the last six years, we have organized and participated in several demonstrations and public actions. Stating political demands this way did not work with Hungary’s arrogant government, and we are afraid that it will just get worse in the future.

Migszol meets people from the Bicske refugee camp in March 2013

The new two third victory of Fidesz with a high turnout gives the government power to do, basically, whatever they want to. Already the first days after the election showed a worrying direction, with lists of individuals as “Soros-agents” appearing on a pro-government weekly magazine and a television channel.The spokesperson of the government, Zoltán Kovács, has said that the government is planning to pass the Stop Soros law. Passing this law would be tragic, and severely decrease critical voices in public debate.Future of Migszol and migration-related political activism in Hungary The government is trying to have a complete control on “what counts as political” and there is a slow but sure erosion of space for critical voices. In practice, this means that the government justifies its crackdown on people who work with migration by claiming that their work is “political”, and “political issues” should only be dealt with by parties - not individuals, groups, or NGOs. Hungary is not the only country trying to limit civil actors’ work on migration, on the contrary: countries from Spain to Finland introduce laws that suggest that solidarity work is illegal. The difference is that in Hungary, there is no real alternative to state media and their unified opinions. Also, there has been a steady attack on basic democratic institutions over the last years.

We never had any bosses or directors, and nobody has been ever working for Migszol as a paid employer. We never kept a registry of our members, and only Migszol can define who has been a member of the group, or who has not.

Regarding Migszol, in particular: as we mentioned above, in the last few years the legislation and the political environment changed a lot here, also, immigration from Hungary affects us, most of our members have moved on to other countries or have needed to take time off of activism. So now we have less capacity and limited access, but we still have at least some ideas on how to go onward. Of course, we will keep up our blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts and keep posting, even if less regularly.Finally, we want to stress that Migszol has always been an informal, unregistered group made up entirely of volunteers. Since our group is called a migrant solidarity group, our membership was always diverse. People coming from different countries and Hungarians working together has always been the core principle. We never had any bosses or directors, and nobody has been ever working for Migszol as a paid employer. We never kept a registry of our members, and only Migszol can define who has been a member of the group, or who has not. This is not the end of Migszol. When there is space for activism such as we have done before, hopefully we will return with full speed. ​

Before the elections, we wanted to ask politicians to talk about the real issues about migration. One of the real problems, unfortunately, is physical violence towards people at the Hungarian borders.

According to the to the Chief Prosecutor's Office’s data: between 16 September 2015 and 1 January 2018 the Prosecutor's Office received 75 reports regarding violence committed by the authorities towards migrants. In these 75 cases, the competent prosecutor authorities decided to refuse the complaints in 15 cases, to stop the investigations in 51 cases and to suspend the investigations 1 case. 3 penal procedures are still ongoing, and in 3 cases a case transmission decision was made. In two penal cases the Szeged Regional Department of the Central Investigations Prosecutor’s Office had accusations regarding violence against migrants, in both cases a final damning court decision was made.

We think this should be a clear barrier for everyone. Even if a party rejects the quota system, or approves of the border fence, violence on our borders is something that is not acceptable. Therefore, we decided to gather the different stances of political parties on it.

In early March, we asked the following question from several political parties:

What is your stance on the violence towards migrants at the Southern border of Hungary? In the Hungarian parliament, what actions would you take with regards to the violence?

Despite our efforts, we only received a four answers. Many thanks to Együtt, Lehet Más a Politika-LMP, Magyar Liberális Párt and Modern Magyarország Mozgalom-MoMa for taking this seriously, and answering. We are very sad that the rest of the parties stayed silent. (The answers are available in Hungarian on our blog section.)

]]>Sat, 31 Mar 2018 08:27:11 GMThttp://www.migszol.com/blog/saudi-police-dog-panic-in-cegled-some-lessons-of-propagandaThis is the second in the Migszol election-post series where we approach the government’s migration policy through a wholly new angle, that of dogs. The connection between dogs and propaganda might not be clear, in the first instance - therefore, we would like to share our astonishment with you.

In two weeks we will see what a well prepared, properly maintained propaganda can bring to a political party. Some preliminary results, however, are already available.

The emergence of migrant-panics Basically, two and a half years of constant Fidesz-propaganda has convinced many people to think that people with a different skin color or speaking a foreign language are scary and threatening. And, if we see scary people the best is to call the police. Several stories have surfaced, when ordinary Hungarian citizens call the police having just seen scary people, or in other words, migrants. For instance, the Pécswater polo team in their own city. Who knows, a group of men travelling in a minivan could just as well be smuggled migrants.

Dogs appear even in the storyline of migrant panics, and nowhere else, but in Cegléd. The story unfolded slowly. At first, it seemed like a “normal” migrant panic: this January, a group of dark skinned men showed up in the city. People called the police - why would migrants show up in Cegléd? A local media outlet followed up a reader’s letter. Before long, the papercovered the ‘shocking’ story of Arabs appearing on the streets of the peaceful town.

Thanks to the great media work, people of Cegléd received the calming outcome of the investigation: this group of people were either tourists, or sportsmen on holiday. Little did the Ceglédians know, that the story was far from over.

Next day the news broke out that the mysterious migrants-turned-tourists were, in fact, Saudi-Arabian police officers. At first, at Migszol we wondered why would Saudi police officers show up in Cegléd. Then it turned out, that they were participating in a very particular type of a counter-terrorism training: a training ofpolice dogs

In our previous post we wrote how Hungarians love dogs. It seems that we are internationally famous for this, and maybe the word has reached the Saudis that there is world famous dog trainer in Csemő, next to Cegléd.

Picture: wikipedia.com

The Propanda-machine

A few years ago incidents like this were unknown to our society. In other words, calling the police just because we see a group of men in a bus, just because we meet someone with different skin color, could not happen 4-5 years ago. The question arises: how did wehere?

The answer, maybe obvious for some, is the so-called societally targeted advertisements. In other words, we now see the results of the constant strong propaganda and state occupied media. Considering how we are bombarded with the propaganda, seeing it on the streets in big and small posters, receiving it in our post boxes in the form of “informative leaflets”, in whole-page newspaper advertisements, TV- and radio-advertisements, and social media posts. Considering that it is virtually impossible to escape from the sphere of propaganda, we totally can understand that some people have fears. After all, what they see in the daily propaganda news, such as Origo, is basically some weather updates, and endless horrible news about foreigners.

The migrants, hunt!

So the fact that citizens call the police because they see scary migrants, seems almost usual these days. But what the Cegléd story reveals, is that the scary migrants can be police, too. According to the Hungarian saying, one is a dog, the other is a hound? Egyik kutya, másik eb. Especially that those scary Arabs were here to learn about police dogs.

If we Google a bit, we see that police dogs, also known as K9 dogs, are trained to search or to patrol, or both. Maybe Fidesz communication advisers know about these training methods, because we can hear these orders from Orbán as well.

The propaganda has reached its aim, and now after our society has been infected with fear, good Hungarians are supposed to protect, patrol all the time. And the given samples of the enemy are on the billboards, we can smell it from the state television: the Migrants, go, search!

Recently, Orbán has referred to Hungarian citizens as “mercenaries” of Soros, and that there are 2000 people working against the interest of national security. No doubt, the target of the hunt is changing, it can be anyone.

]]>Tue, 20 Mar 2018 21:23:06 GMThttp://www.migszol.com/blog/big-and-small-dogs-in-hungarian-politicsAs the cliche says, Hungarians are a nation that loves dogs. And thus in our pre-election blog series, we will look at dogs in different shapes, sizes and ages, but will pay particular attention to the different roles dogs play in Hungarian migration politics. Dogs seem to pop up everywhere. They are the guard dogs at the border, the stray dogs squeeze under the fence whichever direction they please. Saudi policemen are stationed in Cegléd to learn from the “world class dog trainer,” Cs. Pál. In this first one, we are interested in the age old friendship between man and dog and its importance to political campaigns. Recent years have seen a rise in the number of politicians with harsh rhetorics posing with their beloved pets. We are particularly fascinated by the fluffy images of tough anti-migration politicians: why is it important for them to show a human side next to the harsh, and sometimes brutal, migration politics they promote? The Big DogRegardless of the outcome, the elections foresee a dark time for migrants and refugees. In case Fidesz-KDNP wins two thirds of majority in Parliamentary seats, they will continue to divert the nation’s attention from crises in housing, healthcare and education, towards the Great Danger: migration. If the words of Orbán are to be believed, “no migrants” will be let into the country. Those ones living in here will find their life impossible by racism that crosscuts different layers of society. Other casualties include NGOs that provide quality integration and legal help for asylum seekers. Third country citizens found to “help migration” might be banned from the country, and Hungarian citizens may face a “restraining order” from approaching the Schengen border, including the airport. ​

It is not an accident that Orbán chooses his awkward dog picture to be taken with a kuvasz. As a large Hungarian shepherd breed, kuvasz is bred to guard the master’s own livestock against predators. It is protective of the household’s own children and friends, but can get aggressive when it perceives trespassers. We can only guess who these trespassers are expected to be in Orban’s household of the nation. Please do not forget, kuvasz dogs traditionally live their lives on 2-3 long chains while serving.

Viktor Orbán is, undoubtedly, the big dog in Hungarian politics.

Jobbik-puppies

After the victory in Hódmezövásárhely, the likelihood that left-liberal opposition parties would team up up with Jobbik is discussed more and more seriously. This is an unpleasant mathematical and strategic reality. Such cooperation is possibly the only chance to take down the Big Dog, and prevent Fidesz from further destroying democratic institutions.

Whether or not strategic voters need to be weary of Jobbik’s support of fascist groups and their leaders previous fascist pronouncements is the question on everyone’s mind.

Gábor Vona / Facebook

Some years ago, Vona Gábor famously posed with Hungarian Vizsla puppies in his lap. He shows a soft, loving side towards those puppies, nurturing a symbol of the nation? Vona’s softened image is a part of his project to soften his image as a politician who has fostered anti-roma, anti-jewish and anti-refugee sentiments. This goes together with an extensive social program that the “left” parties have been unable to offer.When cooperation with Jobbik is almost the only possible solution to bring down Fidesz, it is the kiskutya-Vona that we like to see. But it is good to keep in mind, little dogs can cause serious injuries for many as well. Even tough Jobbik campaigns with left wing arguments, such as healthcare or jobs, it is still a dangerous, xenophobic party in a battle with another extreme right party, Fidesz.Toroczkai When an Index-journalist recently asked Vona about the presence of László Toroczkai in the party, Vona simply replied that a “people’s party” can include many types of voices. While we understand that cooperation with Jobbik might be a necessity in order to bring down Fidesz, we think that the discussion needs to include an element of the open fascists in the party. One such figure is Toroczkai, who is no less than one of the vice-presidents of the party. The mayor of Ásotthalom, also of course posing with a puppy in his Facebook profile picture, has reached international fame with his migrant-hunting action video. He is on a self-commissioned crusade against muslims, and thus has many loyal neonazi-fans across Western Europe. For many liberal intellectuals in Budapest, Toroczkai stands a beacon of “racism of the countryside.” Ironically, some of those Budapest intellectuals often resort to same sort of language whereby “Christian” and “Muslim” civilizations are naturally in a fight with each other.

Toroczkai / Facebook

Nevermind the puppy - Toroczkai is much more than an odd and absurd figure from the countryside. What is absurd is that the fact that the vice-president of Jobbik openly advocates violence is not spoken about. Toroczkai is the proud director of the so-called “field guards”, informal militias who patrol the border. Toroczkai also likes to post pictures on his Facebook page, such as this one, of migrants he has caught. We do not know whether he field guards are the ones responsible for the systematic violence at the border - people who have been beaten up at the border are able to only say that it is people who “wear uniforms”. ​

Kutyából nem lesz szalonna​

There is a famous Hungarian saying: kutyából nem lesz szalonna. In English, you’ll never make bacon out of a dog. Such is the case with Jobbik, as well, no matter how much the party presents itself as “left wing” and not racist. According to Vona, “nobody has to be afraid” of a people’s party, Jobbik. He claims that Fidesz is “upholding” the problem of migration, whereas Jobbik would “solve” it - presumably with the tactics of László Toroczkai? In the light of “solving migration”, it’s ridiculous to think nobody would have to be afraid of Jobbik gaining ground. And those afraid would not necessarily be only migrants and Roma. In terms of the other undemocratic tactics, we only have Vona’s word to trust. For instance, it remains to be seen, what Jobbik thinks of Hungarians who work in the sphere of migration. Claiming to be different from Fidesz, Jobbik nevertheless shares the discourse of “different civilizations” which is so much shared in Hungarian public discussion. In other words, it’s a choice between extreme right and extreme right, where one side is incredibly corrupt and in absolute power, while the other side wants to implement a social program. Cooperation with the latter is, unfortunately, the only way of getting rid of the former. Even so, however, the violence openly advocated by Jobbik needs to be a part of the discussion.It is totally understandable that under a machine of propaganda, our society is tired of hearing about migration. Nevertheless, if migrants are beating bloody at the border, we think it should still remain on the agenda. If Jobbik, riding on it’s leader’s affectionate, caring and muted image would seize political power, not only the now tamed Gábor Vona, but people like László Toroczkai would also become a prominent politician. Despite Gábor Vona’s withdrawal from a loud anti-roma and anti-semitic rhetoric and rebranding as a person with a passion for health care and education, we cannot choose to ignore his past, and his party’s present. No one can mistake Vona’s promise to govern with a “Hungarian heart, sober mind and clean hands”. Vona’s Hungarian Vizsla puppies will grow up to hunt down the enemy. No matter how many puppies, as a Hungarian syaing goes, a dog will never be made into a bacon.

The news pieces have several factual mistakes connected to Migszol. We are not a registered organization, and nobody works for the group. Everyone is a volunteer, and nobody gets paid. We do not receive any funding. We don’t have registered members, and only Migszol can be asked that who is, or has been, our member and who not. Migszol has never been consulted about the person in the news, and none our members has ever worked with LMP or Bernadett Szél. The claim that Szél's advisor used to be an employee of Migszol is not only untrue, but impossible. We ask all the news outlets who have distributed this claim to correct it immediately and clarify that Szél's advisor has not been a member or employee of Migszol.

Furthermore, the connections that hirado.hu creates between Migszol and terrorism are without any basis in reality. We strongly condemn any act of terrorism. We work for the rights of people who seek asylum, who often flee their countries exactly because of terrorism. There is also a mixup between independent groups who work towards on similar goals. We are Migszol Csoport, which started in Budapest in 2012. Other groups include Migszol Szeged which formed in Szeged in 2015 and stopped working recently, and Free the Roszke 11, which was formed in 2016. Even though we support each other’s work, all these groups are independent from each other. Migszol supports the fight for the rights of Ahmed H. exactly because we believe that he is a target of an ongoing political show trial. To further clarify the claims hirado.hu makes, in 2015 we did not provide humanitarian aid but collected interviews from people stuck in Keleti. Based on these interviews, we wrote a report on the situation. Since 2012, Migszol has collected testimonies from people on the move and shared them in the form of blog posts and short testimonies lately for exampleabout experiences in the transit zones as well as about border violence.We have also shared information on how the Hungarian asylum system works to audiences in Hungary and abroad. We have organized several demonstrations against the harsh, brutal and inhumane treatment of asylum seekers and refugees. Among others, the protests have addressed the structural homelessness of refugees, and the re-opening of detention in 2013, detention of asylum seekers in Debrecen in 2014, and several demonstrations against the national consultation, the building of the fence and the legislative changes in 2015. In 2016 and 2017, we also organized demonstrations about the worsening conditions for people seeking for protection and the unfair trials of the people accused for riots in Röszke. Information and pictures on these protests may be found on the blog, on our website and Facebook page.

We are strongly against the tone in the media that suggests an automatic connection between being born in Kabul and national security and terrorism. We are sad to see how the government media tries to create fear instead of focusing real burning issues in Hungary, such as crises in housing, healthcare and education.

Finally, we are extremely sorry for Szilard Németh being so eager on commenting on unconfirmed claims about national security questions to attempt to score points in the upcoming elections. We truly hope that questions of national security are taken seriously enough not to be shared in such a manner. As Migszol, we don’t want to be instrumentalized in this hateful propaganda offensive. Finally, we wish strength and perseverance to politicians such as Bernadett Szél, who bravely fight the government’s propaganda campaigns before the election.

]]>Sat, 23 Sep 2017 10:52:53 GMThttp://www.migszol.com/blog/asylum-system-in-hungary-dismantled-as-elections-approach-migszol-updateWhat was before a more or less, albeit poorly, functioning asylum system, has been turned into a carefully constructed, but unsustainable, system of detention and transit zones. Systematic pushbacks to Serbia, and more recently to Romania, continue. The fence area has developed into a militarized zone of pushbacks and detention. Following the format of our previous monthly updates,thisbriefpostoverlooksthemaindevelopmentsinHungaryin2017ontheground,whilethenextpostcomingupinafewdaystimelooksatpoliticaldevelopments. For legal developments and a monthly update on the asylum situation in Hungary, please see also the publications of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.

Closure of camps and move towards detention

The government’s rhetoric on introducing systematic detention has been put into practice, on March 8th, when the law on detention for all asylum seekers was passed. This resulted in many people who were in the process and staying in open camps, to leave the country towards Western Europe. The date of the parliamentary vote was changed without further notice, which made protest very difficult. At the time, we published a detailed report on what asylum detention means. There are still open camps left in Hungary, for those who have (recognized) chronic medical conditions), who are in the last days of their pregnancy and who have been recognized as refugees.

The first of the two forms of detention in Hungary is asylum detention. This is detention for those people who ask for asylum in Hungary. At the moment the asylum detention centers in operation are the ones found in Nyírbátor near the Ukrainian and Romanian border, Békéscsaba on the Romanian border, and the two transit zones in Tompa and Röszke in the border with Serbia. The asylum detention in Kiskunhalas, one of the biggest in terms of capacity, was closed, or turned inactive in March 2017, when the aforementioned new law was passed in the parliament for those who have asked for asylum in the country.

The other type of detention is the Alien Police detention centers, commonly referred to as or immigration detention. This is for those people, who are caught in Hungary and, after the same legal amendment in March, considered by Hungarian law as residing in the country “illegally”, and who do not wish apply for any type of international protection. Also, there are people whose asylum request has been rejected. The currently operating immigration detention centers are found in Győr (near the Austrian border), Nyírbátor, and the airport in Budapest.

One main difference between the two centers is that the asylum detention is managed and run by the Asylum and Immigration Office (that operates under the Ministry of the Interior), while the latter is managed and run by the Hungarian police. There are more people, at the moment, in asylum detention than in immigration detention, when considering the transit zones on the border. Those in immigration detention are mostly single men whose asylum cases have been rejected, and who have not been able to continue towards the west.

One of the reasons why many people end up in immigration detention is that people don’t ask for asylum in Hungary. This is because they they know that if they are recognized to be in need of international protection, they face homelessness and destitution in Hungary, and are legally allowed to work only in Hungary.

The situation in detention remains very much the same as before, except that now it applies also to childrenabovetheageof14. There is limited internet access, no use of cellphones, and although some NGOs do have access inside, the people detained are extremely frustrated, waiting for decisions on their procedure and not knowing what awaits them. On March 18th, a demonstration by people detained), at the Békéscsaba asylum detention center took place (at the moment, the center is empty. The hunger strike lasted for one day, and the detainees wrote a joint statement describing the horrible conditions and asking for help.

There are also functioning open camps, such as Vámosszabadi, where the authorities place adults and families with status, and are now waiting for their official documents. Their future is uncertain, given that all integration support whatsoever has been cancelled. In theory, this means that they enter the same system that exists for Hungarians, but with no support networks or language knowledge. In practice, they may turn to the NGOs who provide support for refugees who stay in Hungary, but who still have limited resources. In practice, many await for their travel documents to arrive, and then continue towards the west. With a refugee status in one EU country, they are allowed to travel within the Schengen zone for three months, but have no automatic right to emigrate for the purpose of employment, as Hungarians do.

Public debate in Hungary has, thanks to government propaganda, been hijacked by the question of the fence, and the situation in detention does not receive much attention. In addition, access to detention for groups like Migszol is extremely limited, and in reporting, we rely on information that we get directly from people who get in touch with us while inside.

Situation at the borders and the transit zone

In April, the second line of fence was completed, making it extremely difficult to cross the fence. Considerable attention was paid to the fact that the fence actually speaks, pointing to the intricate system of technology that keeps people at bay. More recently, the government has estimated that the cost of this militarized zone has been 800 million euros (half of which the Prime Minister Orbán has recently asked the European Union to cover). Despite of this, people do manage to get across while escaping the difficult situation Serbia. At the moment, the Hungarian police reports daily cirka 10-70 pushbacks of people back to the other side of the fence (see daily numbers on the official website of the police).

In the meanwhile, the transit zone has developed into a militarized zone, full of people. In the summer, the conditions under the heating sun were unbearable. Throughout the summer, several independent Hungarian media outlets have reported on the inhumane conditions on the border (see, for instance, this report from Átlátszó and in English from Index. More lately, the Hungarian government has attacked precisely such independent media as Index as “fake news”).

People in the transit zone may have quality legal representation from the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, while the public free legal aid remains of extremely poor quality. The HHC has also managed to facilitate so-called positive Dublin cases, where some people from the border are directly united with their family members in other EU member states. In the meanwhile, Germany has stopped all Dublin deportations to Hungary, as has Finland. Interestingly, one of the reasons cited is poor integration prospects as one of the reasons. Hungary, however, deports people to Bulgaria under Dublin regulation. According to our information, some people staying in the asylum detention in the transit zone, rather choose to go back to Serbia than be deported to Bulgaria (this is the case also with some minors).

The recruitment for the so-called border hunters (határvadászok) has continued throughout the year. For readers interested in the daily life of a border hunter, we recommend this video prepared by the Hungarian police (no Hungarian skills needed). The police also reports regularly on the training and graduation of cohorts of border hunters.

Ever since the beginning of the summer 2016, Migszol continues to receive testimonies on violence against people trying to cross the fence. These testimonies, which we also upload on our webpage, document beating, stealing of valuables and clothing in freezing temperatures. It is difficult to know exactly who are behind the violence, as many different authorities (police, border guards, semi-official field guards) are all at the border, wearing uniforms.

Picture: magyarnarancs.hu

As said, several Hungarian media and public personalities have condemned the abuse of people at the border zone. The border zone has, however, been adopted as the main source of election propaganda by the Fidesz government. For example, in early August the party revealed the chief message of the elections to be that the real stake of the election is the choice between Viktor Orbán and the “demolition of the fence”. Even though the massive government media holds the Hungarian public debate in a stranglehold over the question of the fence, among others the mentioned news outlets have criticized the fence. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee has, in the meanwhile, taken the Hungarian government to the European Court of Human Rights, and won cases. On one instance, ECHR ruled that the detention of Bangladeshi asylum seekers in the zone amounted to illegal detention, and on another case, the court stated that Hungary should halt the transfer of eight unaccompanied minors and one pregnant women to detention in the transit zones.

Changing routes These observations from the ground, together with the increasing number of people caught at the Serbian and Romanian borders mean that the system, as it is, is not sustainable. As such, the Hungarian asylum system is just aspect of the asylum system about to collapse elsewhere in Europe. The future of the EU-Turkey deal remains uncertain, and several humanitarian actors are possibly pulling out their operations from Serbia, prompting more and more people to take the risky roads - much like the dangerous land border between Bulgaria and Turkey, or the fenced border between Greece and Turkey - drives people to smugglers and to dangerous routes. While writing this, we are receiving news that more and more people attempt to cross to Hungary from Romania, and in turn many people arrive in Romania over the Black Sea.

This was the first one of two Migszol updates on the current situation in Hungary; the next one in a few days time will focus more on the political developments, governmental propaganda and attack on civil society in Hungary.

A group of children raising slogans criticizing their "miserable" conditions at Tompa camp in Hungary.Photo by Haider Ali

The Hungarian version of this article was originally published on Kettős Mérce.​

​On 19 July, Momentum spokesperson Miklós Hajnal made it to the headlines when questioned on the topic of mass migration and people’s fears. He stated on Hír TV: “Concerning public safety, there is still a lot which is not right in this country … because we sent many people to the border [as guards], pulling them out from the cities and villages where they would otherwise work. Our position is that there is a need for the fence, but we need to be in solidarity with both the soldiers who work there and with the refugees who are there and are willing to go through the truly legal process (sic) that would allow them to acquire refugee status.”

There is still some time till the party’s promised official programme would be released in October, and while there is still heated internal debate on the matter, Migszol seizes the opportunity to formulate some suggestions and ask some questions to the party in the making.

We at Migszol have decided to write you an open letter not only because your spokesperson’s comments yesterday in Hír TV touched upon the issues that we work on, but also because they have opened up a topic that we had long wished to see taken up by political parties. In fact, since your inception we were holding our breath to see what your policies would be on the matter of asylum seekers and refugees. What we collected here is aimed at your statements, not against you. We do not want to single you out.

Rather, our aim is to point to a wider problem in Hungarian politics, namely the following: No political party is brave enough to move away from a security obsessed and fear-fuelled approach to the topic of asylum policy. Yet we believe that such a move would be crucial for founding the discussion on asylum on facts, not fears.

Fidesz domination over migration debate in Hungar

Miklos Hajnal’s statement quoted above highlights the fact that “the question of migration” has become politicised by Fidesz to the extreme that it is now very difficult to move away from the parameters set by the government. Yet, these parameters offer no solution. We need clear stances and real alternatives by political parties on this issue. Moreover, such a clear stance needs to be based on facts rather than paranoid fears from an imaginary “clash of civilizations”.

Momentum is not the only party that has fallen into the trap of the Fidesz discourse. László Botka, the prime ministerial candidate of MSZP, had stated in an interview with Reuters that he would dismantle the fence. However, as the announcement provoked a controversial responses, he withdrew his statements in a Border Hunter inauguration event. It is not just Momentum, there is a great deal of fear amongst political parties to tackle the topic head on.

However, will you be able to offer a viable alternative to Fidesz, if you abstain from taking a clear political stance and simply go down the road paved by Fidesz ? This is a crucial question especially with regard to the heavily politicised topic of migration. If you accept so easily the parameters set by the ruling party, then, will you be able to provide a real alternative? How can it be that the only “experts” on the “migration panel” at Momentum’s summer festival were representatives from the Fidesz-affiliated National University of Public Service (NKE)? You have listened to no other voices.

How can the party be in opposition to Fidesz while only inviting NKE representatives? Does that contribute to a diverse Hungary that Momentum claims to strive for? That is how Fidesz’s roundtable looked like at Tusványos. We hope that Momentum does not trust this as a well functioning approach since, in principle, the young party has a desperate attempt to appeal to all interests, anti-refugee and pro-refugee. However, isn’t this a hopeless attempt?

​On the question of “legality” of the fence and the transit zone

It is not clear from Hajnal’s statement what he exactly means by “the truly legal process (sic) that would allow them [the asylum seekers] to acquire refugee status.” Since Hajnal only talks about refugees being [kept] at the borders and does not say anything about changing the current asylum legislation or policies, we can only understand him to mean that the current situation is the ‘truly legal process’. However, is he aware of what is going on in the transit zones under the name of legal border control?

Life in the transit zones is criminalised as people are detained behind bars and razor wire during the entire duration of their asylum procedure - the latest legal development that Fidesz introduced only in March 2017. People staying in the transit zones are being constantly humiliated, living for months in a non-airconditioned container with one window. Often, large families are lumped together, their only alternative being to spend their day in a small inner courtyard with no shadow whatsoever. People are handcuffed when they need a doctor and are accompanied by armed security guards carrying batons and sprays anywhere they go within the detention complex.

People are placed behind bars without having committed any crime, and this, in the name of the elusive, all-encompassing term of national security, which can be recalibrated according to the needs of each occasion.An asylum policy based on facts would also mean clarifying the concepts in circulation: for instance, what is exactly meant by “public security”? At the moment, the people who suffer most from public security are precisely the minorities: people of LGBTQ background, roma, migrants, people with a different skin colour.

Another set of legislation is built to make the asylum application procedure incredibly difficult, with arbitrary rules such as announcing Serbia as a safe third country. The result is that after many months of being roasted under the sun and inside non-airconditioned spaces they may be pushed back to Serbia with no options left. All of this is done under the name of legality.

We ask Momentum to consider the relative nature of law, since with that logic the newly-passed NGO law or the Lex CEU would also qualify as legitimate. Do you agree with that?

Unfortunately, lately we have had to question, on certain points, the validity of the term “legal in the way Fidesz defines it. At some occasions, it is impossible to accept it as the only measure of what is morally correct or even legal. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that detention of asylum seekers in the zone violates human rights. Given that Momentum is an outspokenly pro-EU party, we are surprised that they do not follow the ECHR ruling on this matter.

We would also emphasise that the fence itself is not the problem: the fence is only a material manifestation of the legislation that allows it. Limiting the discussion on being pro- or anti-fence is pointless unless we also discuss the law that criminalises the asylum seekers’ entry to the country and endangers an entire group of people. We need to discuss the law that allows the violent push-back of people to Serbia since July 2016 and the systematic detention with no special allowances for vulnerable people.

Seeking asylum is internationally recognised to be everyone’s right, and that includes access to territory. If Momentum truly wants to show solidarity with the refugees, they should not only organize money collections to gain sympathy voters, but create a safe passage and attend to their needs!

It appears to us that your migration policy is more based on the assumed popular opinion on migration than on the facts of migration policies in this country, and it lacks the intention to propose your own policy.

Instead, now you aim to conquer your own spot on the same old playground where Fidesz sets the rules. We are looking forward to October, to see if you were to stay there, or you proceed to create your own, fact-based alternative for Hungarian migration policy in this dusty air of political propaganda, in which we are currently navigating.

We recommend this reading from the Hungarian Helsinki Committee for all members of Momentum still considering what their stance is. Migszol does not necessarily agree with all these suggestions either, but at least this one was written by real experts - those experts, whose opinion also the Fidesz government has ignored ever since seizing power in 2010.

The economy of the fence

You say that the fence is necessary. If Momentum is serious about its anti-corruption stance, then, what is your opinion on the methods followed when the fence was commissioned, without tenders, on the question of who made the money on it? The price of the fence was, according to minister János Lázár, 284 billion HUF, that is, more than 900 million EUR. Note also that the same money would have been more than enough for maintaining the reception centers already established (partly from EU money) with a much better staff and facilities.

These could actually be reopened which would mean a consideration of vulnerable people. And the people detained at our borders are vulnerable—men, women and children exposed to multiple orders of trauma including the trauma of leaving their homes and the trauma of the journey. And there is nothing done in the transit zones to alleviate their suffering.

T​he fence does not only cost dearly tax payers money - it also makes the cost of border crossing higher for refugees both physically and in hard currency. It creates lucrative business opportunities for smugglers, and exposes people attempting to cross the border in irregular ways to horrific violence. So now, the options are smugglers or transit zones.

We also do not understand what you mean when you talk of solidarity with the soldiers. The soldiers are paid to work there, no doubt in tough conditions for a workplace, but this is not to be equated to the inhumane conditions faced by asylum seekers detained in the transit zone.

The fence’s effect on Hungarian public consciousness

The fence needs to be protected with more money, legislation, equipment, artillery and personnel. This ‘Hungarian solution’, as Orban phrased it, has created a new problem for the public, a problem that requires endless political and militarized justification in order to continue to appear as reasonable. Its persistent existence works as a sign that it is indeed needed, as Momentum says, but in effect, it is hard to find out what is truly going on at the border. Present are police, the border hunters working under the police, the army, the Immigration Office, and militias ran by the Jobbik mayor of Ásotthalom. These are all strong symbolic messages that hint towards a threat lurking right beyond the Schengen region. We believe that the border fence and its military protection gives an impression of a threat, while in reality it is just a massive machinery manufactured to fight make-believe windmills. There is no threat that would require such protection.

In addition, the normalization of the fence further increases fear, a fear of what is “out there”, of what we don’t know, and this is exactly what Viktor Orbán wants. These sentiments are echoed also in his speeches on ethnic homogeneity and his false opposition of Christianity and Islam. Last but not least, for the tiny population of migrants and refugees in Hungary (around 0.4 percent of the country’s population), the fence stands as a constant reminder that they are not welcome - and even if they are, they are welcome as “exceptions”.

Five years ago, if someone would have said that you need to build a fence, almost everyone would have been outraged, and would not have accepted it but now the majority agrees on this. Its presence has become normalised. We truly hope that Momentum, as a new energetic party, would not fall into this trap so cleverly set by Orbán, and would realise what the fence does to us living in Hungary.

This afternoon, the appeal court of Ahmad H. was held in Szeged. The prosecutor started the session by refusing even the necessity of having an appeal court, since in his opinion the right to a fair trial was respected in the first instance court. He added that there is no need of hearing new evidence or witnesses and asked to exclude some of the police reports to be considered. He wanted to classifyAhmed not as a person holding a permit to free movement, but as a third country national. He finally concluded that the second instance court should uphold the decision of the first instance court.

The prosecutor’s argument against Ahmed is mainly that he should have known that the border was closed and that Hungary was only accessible through the transit zone. Ahmed later responded to this charge that he and his family did not know anything about the border being closed. At one point, Ahmed interrupted by asking to loosen the chains on his legs, because they were too tight. The judge used the situation to have a break.After the break, the hearing of Ahmed continued, with a twist however, as the prosecutor repeated the first instance prosecution and demanded an even higher punishment – to increase his prison sentence from 10 to 17 and a half years. Ahmed’s lawyer Bárándy criticized the treatment of the evidence in the first court and the first verdict as contradictory and insufficient. No evidence had proved that Ahmed was leading the crowd and some crucial exonerating materials were ignored in the first trial (e.g. one of the police’s recorded audio material was misused by the first court since the content of the transcript did not match the voice recordings).Another point that was used against Ahmed was the fact that he was showing a V sign, which in the first court was misinterpreted. It was claimed that Ahmed was giving a two-hour ultimatum to policemen to open up the border. The defence mentioned this gross misinterpretation as a sign that the verdict of the first instance court should be rejected. He then continued by arguing that a verdict of such importance cannot include 205 technical words, since those words create a biased atmosphere. He finished his defence proclaiming Ahmed as NOT guilty for illegal entry since he was free to move within the EU and had the right to enter legally. He did not commit a crime but rather an administrative offence by entering Hungary.The court finally concluded that although the first instance court had the right to refuse available evidence, it did not analyse it enough and did not sufficiently explain why such evidence was refused. Relevant facts were established, evidence was presented, but the decision lacked proper reasoning and deliberation. Thus, the verdict was not consistent and objective. Moreover, the first instance court should have analysed whether throwing stones was indeed an attempt to force a state organ, or just an act of losing self control – the latter would have meant that the terrorism charge was not valid. Additionally, there seemed to be confusion in the police report on how much time was given as an "ultimatum" and who gave it in the first place. Since the first instance court based its decision on these confused and inconsistent testimonies and interpretations of facts, the second instance court was unable to make an informed decision. The court thus concluded that the case must be retried to examine the evidence properly and that this needs to be done by a new council. Until then Ahmed has to remain in pretrial detention.Migszol Csoport strongly disagrees with the attempt to portrait Ahmed as a terrorist and denounces the instrumentalisation of his case by government affiliated media to trump up hate. The gross misuse of anti-terrorism legislation for thinly documented, minor offences makes the years-long imprisonment of Ahmed a scandal and a form of cruelty that caricatures any notion of the rule of law.This summary is based on live tweets of @MigSzolCsop, @demeteraaron and @TodorGardos and #AhmedH

]]>Thu, 25 May 2017 18:03:18 GMThttp://www.migszol.com/blog/whats-really-happening-at-the-serbo-hungarian-border-for-a-year-now“The policemen were humiliating us and laughing at us . They were beating us and joking while doing it. They were saying: “Fuck you! Fuck muslims! Muslims are animals”. They put us all in a line and made us sit down. They were asking each of us where we were from. During this they were still hitting us. It didn't matter if you were in the beginning or in the middle of the line. Whenever they felt like hitting you they would hit you. If one of us was sitting in a different way or if the line wasn't straight they would drag them out of the line they would beat them and push them back saying: “Sit straight!”. In my whole life I've never been that scared. I've never been beaten this way and I've never seen anyone that was beaten this way.” /from a testimony collected by Fresh Response in North-Serbia/ full testimony: http://www.migszol.com/border-violence

Since the summer of 2016 reports about police brutality and human rights abuses done against people trying to cross the Serbian-Hungarian borders have dramatically increased. Characterically blunt, the government even officially called a special police unit deployed since February 2017 at the border with Serbia ‘border hunters’. In parallel with the establishment of the border hunter unit new laws were introduced, which enable the Hungarian police to push-back people from the whole territory of the country and thus make the abuses less visible.

The violence have been documented in detail, and have been proven by NGOs and volunteers to be systematic and repetitive. People who cross the border are captured by uniformed groups who injure people severely, stripping them of their phones, taking away warm clothes and letting dogs on them. After the physical and verbal violence, many people are forced by the uniformed groups to record a short film saying that they were not abused.

We wrote to the Ministry of Interior about this, demanding a response on the severe issue. Many people joined us in this fight by sending emails to the Ministry.

Despite the evidence published by countless media and NGOs, the answer of the ministry is very short: they deny any abuse happening at the border. Given the amount of reports and articles on the topic, it is very worrying that there is no transparent investigation of the violence. While we generally advocate for the reestablishment of access to protection through the abolition of the recently introduced laws and see them connected to the violence, we want to emphasize the urgency of the physical violence at the border, which seems to remain unrecognized by the ministry. As a first step it would be particularly important to ensure that the Hungarian police with the newly recruited and barely trained Border Hunter unit is acting with full commitment for protecting human integrity and respecting human rights.

We demand to investigate the violence against asylum-seekers and migrants and publish a transparent report on the investigations. Stop the violence!

the official answer by the Ministry

]]>Tue, 14 Mar 2017 13:28:15 GMThttp://www.migszol.com/blog/kids-in-jail-and-a-price-tag-for-detention-what-does-the-new-hungarian-asylum-law-mean-in-practiceThe Hungarian government has passed an amendment in the national legislation on March 7th 2017. The content is a blatant attack on people who are seeking international protection. Several legal rights professionals have done a great job reacting to the content of the legislation, and explaining why it is in such striking contradiction with existing laws (the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, UNHCR, UNICEF, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch), so Migszol will in turn try to open up these obscure legal changes to reveal what it does to people on a very practical level.

In a nutshell, without a word of exaggeration: the law amendment changes an already ill-functioning national asylum system into a physically isolated, fenced off container camp area at the Southern border, and allows for the authorities to keep the rest of the country ‘clean’ of people seeking protection. The camp area will be a center for processing and managing its people regardless of who they are, where are they coming from, how old they are or what they need. The same in facts: the amendment legalizes detention for all asylum seekers, including children in families and unaccompanied minors over 14. The law will also allow for a ‘collection’ of asylum seekers from all around the country (more on that below). The timeframe for appealing a negative asylum decision is now shortened, from the already extremely short deadlines, to three calendar days, and asylum applications can now be rejected also based on “not cooperating” with the authorities, in which case the case will be closed and the person will be pushed to Serbia with no way to appeal the decision. In case of a negative decision, the asylum seeker should also pay for their own detention, such as accommodation and food, to the Hungarian state. The new amendment also makes it possible to apply for asylum only through the transit zones which is extremely problematic considering the fact that only five people per working day are allowed to access a transit zone from Serbia and waiting times are around one year at the moment.

A policeman patrols the area at Hungary-Serbia border fence near the village of Asotthalom, Hungary, on October 2, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

​What does this mean in practice?

The direct impact of these legal changes on the lives of asylum seekers will be very destructive. After building their lives in the city for months, finding friends or work, the asylum seekers who are already living in Hungary will be - most probably abruptly - taken away from their homes and taken into the container camps at the transit zones. Whether this happens by sending letters which give the orders, or the police evicting people from their homes, we don’t yet know. What is sure is that it will ruthlessly disrupt the lives of those asylum seekers who already live in the country. This adds to the abolishment of all integration support last summer, severely obstructing the means of becoming part of Hungarian society for refugees and asylum seekers, even if they are living here already.

For those who arrive to the Hungarian border with the intent of applying for asylum, or come to the Hungarian territory to do so, the law changes make receiving international protection even harder than before and in significantly bad conditions. Firstly, you can apply for asylum only in the transit zones: even if you cross the border from Ukraine and go to the police right there to leave an asylum application, you will be taken through the country to the Southern Border of Hungary and most likely end up in Serbia. There, on the field, you can queue for the transit zone if you wish to. The Hungarian police now has the right to catch any third country national in the territory of Hungary who does not have some sort of residence permit for Hungary (for travel, studies, or already existing international protection status) and take them to the transit zone. For those who come from Serbia and try to enter the transit zone, technically and legally it should be possible to apply for asylum in Hungary, but we must not forget that in practise it almost does not happen at all: getting into a transit zone is a devastatingly long and random process because only 25 people are taken into the zones per week (no work on the weekends) while there are thousands (more than 7800 according to UNHCR) of people stuck in Serbia. Therefore, if you queue for getting into the transit zone, you should wait between several months to a year to get in. If you do get it, you face the fact that most applications are systematically rejected based on the pragmatic idea of the Hungarian government that Serbia has a functioning asylum system (it does not) and therefore is a safe country for asylum. When you are rejected based on this argument, you have three days to appeal the decision - now the weekends count as well, so leaving an appeal is made extremely difficult. And because this is not enough, also those unfortunate people who have passed through Hungary earlier, continued towards other EU countries to seek asylum, but will be deported back to Hungary due to the Dublin III regulation, will also be jailed at the transit zones in the case they are actually returned here.

We must not forget that during these procedures, asylum seekers will be detained in massive exit-only container camps of size of hundreds of people. Families with children will also be detained, as well as lone children who are 14 or older.

​Why make such a legislation?

As mentioned, the law amendments have been so far fiercely criticized internationally as well as nationally, and the list of critics is growing. The new version of the law is in blatant contradiction with existing international laws, as well as with the Hungarian Constitution, as the Hungarian Helsinki Committee has demonstrated in their letter to János Áder. Why would any government decide to apply something this harsh to people whose main aim is to find a safe place to live? We have to be very clear on the fact that the law is based on a lie: it’s applied because of “the emergency situation caused by mass migration” in Hungary. There is no such situation. There are around 500 asylum seekers now in the country. There’s no recorded terrorist attacks made by immigrants in the country (for more about the show-trial of Ahmed H who is accused of terrorism, read here). This law puts into practise the governmental version of truth, be that with a reference to national security, cultural integrity, the fight against Brussels, or against the newest made-up enemy called foreign funded NGOs. This law amendment has no factual basis whatsoever, but builds up the artificial reality (thanks for coining the term for us, Zoltán Kovács) of the Government and direct the attention of Hungarians away from the governmental failures of national healthcare and education systems.

​What is actually at stake here?

The law amendment is not internationally criticized because it has a few flaws, or because it serves foreign interests. It is criticized because it completely rewrites, or rather abolishes, the asylum system in Hungary, removes basic human rights and severely harms people it applies to. Actually, this kind of measures at the border of Schengen zone will be quite beneficial for the rest of the EU governments, because it does the dirty work of keeping people out of the EU for them. The EU brother- and sister-states might have their political reasons to like this legislation behind closed doors, while publicly condemning it, and therefore possibly not speak out as forcefully against the legislation as should be appropriate. The moral limits of EU member states will be tested now on the strength of their reactions.

Finally, because we are so deep in the political discussion about razor wire, asylum applications, quotas and people as numbers, let’s just get the facts straight: an asylum seeker is not an illegal person. S/he is a person who has left an application for international protection to the officials of that country, and is in the country waiting for a decision for that application. Everybody has the right to enter a country without an official permission when they have the attempt of asking for asylum. These times when extreme measures on people’s lives are made in order to prove a political point of a government, it’s more important than ever to remember this, to think with your own brain and be critical about sources of information. The Hungarian government might want to try to twist and turn this text as well, but they cannot erase the fact that nobody is illegal. ​